If it's not open it's broken.

This is CyanogenMod.

So after a couple of falsestarts I’ve finally managed to set up my Nexus One for custom ROMs. And let’s face it, the only one I was ever really after is the famous CynanogenMod. And here it is!

The hardest thing about Cyanogen is getting it on your phone in the first place. By the time you do you’ll know all about Bootloaders and such, and will appreciate not having to perform some arcane key combination to boot into your other disk partitions.

You’d expect that CyanogenMod would offer lots of homescreen customizations, and you’d be right — the current version tested here (7.0.3) features ADW.Launcher, letting you tweak to your heart’s content.

Here are (almost) all of the default apps — note the presence of both a terminal and a proper file manager (sans ads) — which you don’t get with a stock Android install.

Wallpapers are a highly personal matter, but I think the Cyanogen ones are particularly awesome. But wait, there’s more…

Out of the gate CyanogenMod lets you theme your device with one of three options. More are available through this CM Updater, but the one shown above suits me fine for now.

Parting Thoughts

Having flashed it on my Nexus almost immediately after last week’s post, I can definitely recommend Cyanogen to anyone who has the cojones to install it. You might have issues with the GPS radio if you’re not using the Google apps; I’m still investigating that…